—Allah alone commands them to assume that guise, and He knows best. Such, then, is the nature of the angels—peace be upon them. The particulars mentioned about them are recorded in the Book of Allah and in the Sunnah of His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Our duty is to believe in these angels and to know that they are powerful and formidable. At the Battle of Badr Allah addressed them, saying: “Indeed, I am with you, so make firm those who believe. I shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve—strike them above the necks and strike every fingertip of theirs” (al-Anfal 8:12). They fought side by side with the Companions at Badr: an unbeliever would suddenly fall, his head cloven by a sword, without knowing who had struck him—it was the angels, for Allah had commanded them, “Strike above the necks and strike from them every fingertip—this because they defied Allah and His Messenger; and whoever defies Allah and His Messenger, then indeed Allah is severe in punishment” (al-Anfal 8:12–13).

We must therefore have faith in the angels. Whoever of them we know by name we affirm by name; the rest we affirm in general. We also believe in the acts of worship and duties reported of them, exactly as they are set forth in the Quran and the Sunnah. Belief in the angels is one of the six pillars of faith. Whoever denies their existence, rejects them, or claims that they are merely “forces of good” while devils are “forces of evil,” has committed disbelief that removes him from the fold of Islam, for he has belied Allah, His Messenger, and the consensus of the Muslims. Some people have gone to the extremes of misguidance by denying that angels exist—may Allah protect us—and asserting that angels are nothing but forces of good, that there is no such thing as the angelic realm. If they say this as an interpretation, it is our duty to show them that such an interpretation is false, indeed a distortion; and if they say it without any such pretext, they are unbelievers who reject what—